Tobacco leaf hanger



P 1970 KICHITARO SAKAMOTO 3,527,491

TOBACCO LEAF HANGER 2 Sheets-$heet 1 Filed April 19, 1968 INVENTOR BY 'F s ATTORNEY Sept. 8, 1970 KICHITARO SAKAMOTO 3,527,491

TOBACCO LEAF HANGER Filed April 19, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY d w. 70m

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,527,491 I TOBACCO LEAF HANGER Kichitaro Sakamoto, Okayama-shi, Japan, assignor to Taiki Sangyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Okayama-shi, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Apr. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 722,797 Int. Cl. A24b 1/08 US. Cl. 294-55 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present tobacco leaf hanger can be eifectively used to hold a number of tobacco leaves when they are intended to be dried. The present hanger comprises a first elongate member, a second elongate member and a plurality of spring clips to releasably secure the first and second elongate members in side by side relation with a layer of tobacco leaves to be dried held therebetween. At

The present invention relates to a tobacco leaf hanger for holding leaf tobaccos when they are intended to be dried.

Hitherto, when a number of tobacco leaves which were harvested are intended to be dried, they are arranged side by side in the same direction so that the leafstalk portions of the tobacco leaves may form a flat layer, and in turn such leafstalks may be sewn with a machine, and then the flat layer of bundles of the tobacco leaves may be bilaterally parted to form a pair of layers of the bundles, and these bundles may be hanged on a Wooden bar, which is installed in a drying room, so as to straddle over the bar. Alternatively, the tobacco leaves may be hanged in a drying room with the layer of leafstalks thereof arranged as described above nipped by two parallel bars. In the former operation, however, the sewing thread used for sewing the leafstalks with a machine must be removed therefrom after drying, and if the thread Wont be fully removed, the Waste pieces of thread left in the dried leaves will result in an article of inferior quality. On the other hand, in the latter operation, there is a drawback that some of the tobacco leaves may fall off from the hanger with the progress of drying or the leafstalk portions of the tobacco leaves may not be fully dried.

The present invention has for its object to provide a new and improved tobacco leaf hanger which is free from any of the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent to the conventional device or method.

According to the present invention, there is provided a tobacco leaf hanger comprising a first elongate member, a second elongate member and a plurality of spring clips to releasably secure the first and second elongate members in side-by-side relation with a layer of tobacco leaves to be dried held there-between, the first elongate member forming a straight elongate channel-like body of thin metal sheet comprising a bottom wall and two side walls connected with the bottom wall along their longitudinal edges and the bottom wall having a series of prongs provided thereon as aligned longitudinally of the bottom wall, each of said prongs having flat triangular shape 3,527,491 Patented Sept. 8., 1970 and being oriented at right angles with the length of the first elongate member and being formed integrally with the bottom wall in a manner a small portion of the bottom Wall is cut partially therearound and turned up at right angles with the surface of the bottom wall, the second elongate member being constructed identical with the first elongate member and when assembled the prongs of the first and second elongate members meshing each other penetrating the layer of tobacco leaves. By fully narrowing the spaces between the prongs, the leafstalks of most of the tobacco leaves may be longitudinally penetrated through by the prongs. Therefore, none of the tobacco leaves may fall from the elongate members during drying, and furthermore, the drying of the leaves may be promoted on the ground that dry air may enter into the body of the leafstalks through the rips formed therein by the penetration of the prongs.

With this construction of the first and second elongate members, as dry air may pass through a number of holes produced in the bottom wall of the member by the formation of the prongs thereon, the drying of the leaves will be more effective. Further the elongate members will not be distorted during their lives.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating one embodiment of a tobacco leaf hanger according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating in detail a part of a first elongate member of the tobacco leaf hanger of FIG. 1,

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are schematic end views of the tobacco leaf hanger of FIG. 1, which explain the operating order for applying a layer of tobacco leaves on the present hanger,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tobacco leaf hanger which was assembled in accordance with the order as illustrated in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, a layer of tobacco leaves being applied on the hanger,

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating another embodiment of the present invention, and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic end views illustrating respective mode of securing a spring clip to the elongate members.

Referring to the drawing, particularly FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrating the first embodiment of the present invention, a tobacco leaf hanger 10 comprises a first elongate member or leaf supporting bar 11, a second elongate member or leaf supporting bar 12, the members being of about 2 meters length, and a plurality of spring clips 13 for releasably securing the first and second elongate members in side by side relation with a layer of tobacco leaves to be dried held therebetween. The first elongate member 11 forms a straight elongate channel-like body of a very thin sheet of metal such as, for instance, iron, which comprises an elongate bottom wall 14, a pair of substantially parallel side walls 15, 15 extending outwardly of and substantially normal to the bottom wall 14 from both longitudinal edges thereof, and a pair of opposite flanges 16, 16 extending toward each other from the longitudinal edges of the side walls 15, 15 substantially at right angles therewith. As most clearly shown in FIG. 2, the bottom wall 14 contains a series of V type notches 17 provided therein and aligned longitudinally with the bottom wall, and a number of triangular projections or lugs produced by the provision of the V type notches 17 may be turned up inwardly at right angles with the surface of the bottom wall 14 at the crease lines 18 connecting the opposite ends of the V type notches 17, said crease line 18 being oriented at right angles with the length of the first elongate member, thereby to form a series of inwardly pointed triangular prongs 19 arranged at right angles with the length of the first elongate member. The pointed triangular prong 19 is very thin as its thickness is equal to that of the metal sheet. This is a very important factor for attaining the desired result of this invention.

The tobacco leaf hanger shown in FIG. 1 comprises a first elongate member 11 constructed as explained above and a second elongate member 12 constructed in the. same way as the first elongate member 11, in which the above two members 11, 12 are positioned in bottom-tobottom relation with each other so that the prongs of the two members may face opposite to each other, and the members may be securely assembled in abutting relation with each other by the spring action due to a plurality of clips 13, each of which may be formed of steel wire to straddle and clamp together the first and second elongate members with a layer of tobacco leaves held therebetween.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C show the operating order for applying a layer of tobacco leaves on the present hanger. In FIG. 3A, a number of tobacco leaves T are arranged in the same direction on the first longate member 11 so that the leafstalk portions of the tobacco leaves may be positioned on the prongs 19 of the first elongate member 11. In FIG. 3B, the second elongate member 12 is overlaid on the. leafstalk portions with the prongs 19 of the second elongate member 12 directed to the leafstalk portions. In FIG. BC, the two elongate members are securely assembled by a plurality of clips 13a. FIG. 4 shows the complete tobacco leaf hanger assembled with clips 13a, 13 in such a way as described above, which is ready to be dried in a drying room.

As can be best seen in FIG. 4, the clip 13a consists of a single wire having a central portion which is generally inwardly convex and projects a short distance between the two elongate members 11 and 12. Extending from such central portion on either side thereof is an outwardly convex portion. which extends around the corner formed by the flanges 16 and the side walls 15. The spring clip 13a terminates with inwardly convex leg portions projecting respectively from the outward convex portions, and these leg portions arein side-by-side opposing relation to each other with a gap remaining therebetween. It will be seen from FIG. 4 that such inwardly convex leg portions extend into the gap between the flanges 16 of the elongated members, i.e. they contact with the elongate edges of the opposing flanges of the elongate members.

On the other hand, the spring clip 13 comprises a single wire having a central portion and right and left leg portions connecting to the ends of the central portion, the two leg portions forming a generally round configuration for embracing therein or between the two leg portions the two elongate members so that four points of the inside faces of the leg portions contact four comers of the combined two elongate members.

The second embodiment of the present hanger as shown in FIG. 5 comprises the same first elongate member 11 as explained in the first embodiment and a second elongate member 12 generally identical with the first elongate member 11 except for having no prong.

It will be clearly understood from FIGS. 6 and 7 that a spring clip 13 having a shape as shown may be applied from two different directions to the first and second elongate members holding a layer of tobacco leaves therebetween.

According to the present invention, it will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the tobacco leaves may be not only effectively dried without falling off of the leaves, but also may be readily applied on and removed from the present tobacco leaf hanger.

While the present invention has been described in connection with some particular embodiments, it is to be understood that various changes and modification may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A tobacco leaf hanger comprising a first elongate member, a second elongate member and a plurality of spring clips to releasably secure the first and second elongate members in side by side relation with a layer of tobacco leaves to be dried held therebetween; the first elongate member forming a straight elongate channel-like body of thin metal sheet comprising a bottom wall, two side walls connected with the bottom wall along their longitudinal edges and two opposing flanges respectively connected with the side walls at right angles thereto and projecting inwardly and parallelly with the bottom wall with an elongate central gap remaining between the elongate edges of the flanges, and the bottom wall having a series of prongs provided thereon as aligned longitudinally of the bottom wall, each of said prongs having flat triangular shape and being oriented at right angles with the length of the first elongate member and being formed integrally with the bottom wall in a manner a small portion of the bottom wall is .cut partially therearound and turned up at right angles with the surface of the bottom wall; the second elongate member being constructed identical with the first elongate member and when assembled the prongs of the first and second elongate members meshing each other penetrating the layer of tobacco leaves; at least one of the said spring clips consisting of a single wire having a central portion, a pair of outwardly convex portions extending from said central portion, and inwardly convex leg portions projecting respectively from said outwardly convex portions in sideby-side opposing relation to each other with a gap remaining therebetween, said inwardly convex leg portion contacting with the elongate edges of the opposing flanges of said elongate members with the outwardly convex portions of the clip embracing one of the flanges of the first elongate member and one of the flanges of the. second elongate member.

2. The tobacco leaf hanger of claim 1, wherein at least the spring clip to be mounted on the end portion of the two elongate members comprises a single wire having a central portion and right and left leg portions connecting to the ends of the central portion, the two leg portions forming a generally round configuration for embracing the two elongate members with four points of the inside faces of the leg portions contacting four corners of the combined two elongate members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 721,615 2/1903 Smith 2945.5 2,738,213 9/1952 Parrish 2945.5 1,322,648 11/1919 Sullivan 2945.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,262,869 4/ 1961 France.

RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner W. S. CARSON, Assistant Examiner 

